Heddle control for looms



June 26, 1951 P. A. WHITAKER HEDDLE CONTROL FOR LOOMS 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 1, 1948 INVENTOR.

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HEDDLE CONTROL FOR LOOMS Filed Sept. 1, 1948 4 Sheets-Sheet-2 IN! [N TOR.

June 26, 1951 wHlTAKER 2,558,284

, HEDDLE CONTROL FOR LOOMS Filed Sept. 1, 1948 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR. 7? H VV/zz fake/ BY June 26, 1951 P. A. WHITAKER 2,558,284

HEDDLE CONTROL FOR LOOMS Filed Sept. 1, 1948 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 v '32 32 kfil W W v 2/ V 1NV ENTOR.

P6 W/uzaker Patented June 26, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HEDDLE CONTROL FOR LOOMS Patrick A. Whitaker, New York, N. Y. Application September 1, 1948, Serial No. 47,259 4 Claims. (01. 139-55) This invention relates to a heddle control for looms and more particularly to an automatic selector mechanism for selecting and raising the proper heddles for each shuttle shot.

An object of the invention is to provide an apparatus of the above type in which the heddle wires are operated directly by suction means under the control of perforated cards.

Another object is to provide an apparatus of the above type in which the setting up of the loom is greatly simplified.

Another object is to provide a mechanism of the above type in which the threads which are commonly required to connect the heddle wires of the control mechanism are eliminated.

Another object is to provide an automatic heddle control which is capable of controlling the heddles individually across the entire width of the loom so that the designer may use the full width of the loom without lateral repetition in making up his design.

Another object is to provide a system of heddle control which is adapted to actuate a plurality of warps which pass through superimposed eyes in the heddles to permit weaving a plurality of fabrics simultaneously.

Another object is to provide a relatively simple and commercially dependable apparatus of the above type.

Various other objects and advantages will be apparent as the nature of the invention is more fully disclosed.

The nature of the invention will be better understood by referring to the following description, taken 'in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which a specific embodiment thereof has been set forth for purposes of illustration.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view illustrating my improved control mechanism applied to the heddle wires of a loom;

Fig. 2 is a broken top plan view of the control box with the suction head removed;

Fig. 3 is a broken detail view illustrating a plurality of control cards;

Fig. 4 is a transverse section taken along the line 4-4 of Fig. 2, but with the suction head in place;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged section taken along the line 5-7 of Fig. 2 showing one of the control cylinders;

Figs. 6 and 7 are partial sectional views taken along the lines 5-6 and 7'!, respectively, of Fig. 1, showing the control valves for actuating the suction head and applying suction. thereto in proper timed sequence;

Fig. 8 is a detail view of one'of the heddle wires;

Fig. 9 is a top planview of the control mechanism with parts broken away toshow the arrangement of perforations in the suction head; and.

Fig. 10 is a section taken along'the line l0l0 of Fig. 9.

Referring to the drawings more in detail, the invention is shown as comprising a control mechanism for a group of heddle wires l5 cOntaining eyes. l6 (Fig. 8) through which the warp I1 is threaded. The heddle wires and warp form a part of a loom of standard construction, the details of which are not involved in this invention. As illustrated in Fig. 1, a portion of the warp l T is raised by selected heddle wires to form a warp shed l9 through which the shuttle (not shown) is to be passed. Fig. i also shows the heddle wires extended downwardly to receive a second set of warp threads 20 to permit two fabrics to be woven simultaneously. It is to be understood that any desired number of fabricsmay be woven simultaneously by a suitable extension of the heddle wires.

Referring to Figs. 1, 4 and 10, each heddle wire i5 extends through an aperture in a plate 2| and is attached to a piston 22 slidable vertically in a cylinder 23 in a cylinder block 24. The cylinders 23 are arranged in staggered rows as indicated. in Fig. 2 so as to provide a sufiicient clearance to permit one cylinder to be positioned -a-p proximately over each of the many Warpthreads in the loom. The number of staggered'rows of cylinders will, of course, depend on the size of the loom and the number of warp threads thereacross and it is to be understood that the cylinder block 24 extends entirely across the loomso that each Warp thread I! is actuated by an individual heddle wire l5 and each heddle wire is controlled by an individual piston 22. The holes. in the bottom plate 2|, throughwhich the heddle wires pass, are of a size to permit free sliding movement of the heddle Wires, but'form a stop to limit the downward movement of the. pistons.

A suction head 30 (Figs. 1, 4, 9 and 10) is formed with a bottom wall 3| having a plurality of perforations 32 which register with the various cylinders 23 and with a top wall 33 forming a closed suction chamber 34. The suction head 36 is mounted on a plurality of rods 35 (Figs. 2 and 5) which carry at their lower ends pistons 36 operating in air cylinders 31 formed in-the cylinder block 24. A packing gland 38 around the rod'35 forms an air seal and a spring 39 seated in the cylinder 31 beneath the piston 36 normally holds the piston and the suction head in elevated position. The tension of the spring 39 may be adjusted by a cap screw 46 threaded into the cylinder block 24. An air vent 4! is provided to prevent air pressure from buildin up in the cylinder 31 beneath the piston 36 and interfering with the actuation of the piston. Air under pressure is supplied to the cylinder 31 by a duct 42. The duct 42 communicates with all of the cylinders 31 as indicated in Fig. 2 and with an air supply duct 43 through which air under pressure is supplied to all of the cylinders 3! above the piston 36 to retract the pistons 36 against the force of springs 39 and thereby lower the suction head 30. Air under pressure is supplied to the duct 43 through a valve 45 from a suitable reservoir or pump 46 which is connected to the valve 45 by a duct 41.

As shown in Fig. 6, the valve 45 is provided with a vent opening 48 and with a rotor 49. The rotor is shaped to form two chambers 50 and with the housing 52 of the valve 45. In the position shown in Fig. 6, both the duct 43 and the vent opening 48 communicate with the chamber 56. Hence the duct 43 and the various cylinders 3! are vented to the atmosphere and the pistons 36 are held in elevated position by the springs 39. It is to be noted that the collar 53 on the rod 35 above the piston 36 prevents the piston from,

blocking off the passage 42 when it is in elevated position. When the rotor 49 is rotated in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 6, the ducts 43 and 41 are brought into communication with the chamber 5| and air under pressure is supplied to the duct 43 for actuating the various pistons 36 and lowering the suction head 36 as above described.

Suction is maintained in the chamber 34 of the head through a duct 55 (Figs. 1 and 9) which communicate through a pipe 56, a valve 51 and pipe 58 with the suction side of a suitable suction pump 66.

The valve 51, as shown in Fig. '7. comprises a housing 6! having a vent opening 62. A rotor 63 forms with the housing 6| a pair of chambers 64 and 65. In the position shown in Fig. 7, the pipe 56 and the vent Opening 62 communicate with the chamber 64. Hence the chamber 34 in the suction head 30 is vented to the atmosphere. When the motor 63 is rotated in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 7, the pipe 56 remains in communication with the vent opening 62 through an initial limited range of movement which corresponds to the movement of the rotor 49 of the valve 45 required to apply air pressure to the duct 43 and lower the suction head 30. Movement of the rotor 63 beyond this point brings the chamber 65 into communication with the pipe 56 and duct 58 and thereby supplies suction through the pipe 56 to the suction head 30.

' The rotors 49 and 63 are mounted on a common shaft actuated by a manual control handle 66 and it will be noted that the two valves are so related that pressure is first applied to the cylinder 37 for lowering the suction head, then suction is applied to the suction head, and when the valves are restored to their original position the suction is first cut off from the suction head and thereafter the cylinders 31 are vented to raise the suction head.

The suction to the various cylinders 23 is controlled by perforated cards 69 having selected perforations 70 therein and joined together by suitable means, indicated as hinges H. Certain of the hinges H are provided with extending hinge ;pins 12 to permit the cards to hang in groups from supporting rails not shown. It is to be understood that the cards are fed in succession in an endless chain through the machine and are positioned by suitable means so that the individual cards rest on the cylinder block 24 beneath the suction head 30. The cards may be fed manually by suitable means commonly used for the feeding of Jacquard cards and which form no parts of the present invention.

Referring to Fig. 3, it is to be noted that the successive cards are perforated to select diiferent cylinder positions and in the embodiment illustrated alternate heddle wires are actuated by successive cards for plain weaving.

It is to be understood, of course, that the perforations may be arranged in accordance with any selected design so that any predetermined group of warp threads may be raised at each actuation of the machine.

As indicated in Figs. 4 and 10, the selected.

perforations '13 in the card 69, which is positioned beneath the suction head 30 are disposed to serve as a communication between the hole 32 of the suction head and the cylinders 23. Both the hole 32 and the perforations T3 in the cards 69 are of a size to form a stop for the pistons 22 and limit their vertical movement.

It will be understood of course that when suction is applied to the selected cylinders 23 the pistons 22 therein are elevated, thereby raising the heddle wires l5 attached thereto and lifting the selected warp ll as indicated in Fig. 1.

Inasmuch as a substantial force may be produced by the suction in the cylinders 23, it is evident that sufficient power may be exerted upon the heddle wires 15 to lift a plurality of warp threads. Hence the heddle Wires may be extended as indicated in Fig. l to operate simultaneously on a plurality of sets of warp thread and thereby permit simultaneous weaving of two or more fabrics. This is an important consideration in the case of complicated designs inasmuch as the same set of control cards may be used for weaving several selections of designs.

It is to be understood that in operating this machine, the Weaver first advances the proper card into position on the cylinder block 34 beneath the head 36 and then actuates the control handle 68 for lowering the cylinder block and applying suction thereto. The shuttle is then passed through the warp shed in the usual manner to lay a Weft thread and the handle 68 is then restored, thereby cutting ofi suction to the head 38 and raising the same. The operation is then repeated for the next card.

By connecting the heddle wires directly to the control pistons 22, connecting threads which often break in operation are eliminated; hence the necessity for setting up the leashes or for interrupting the weaving to repair a broken leash is eliminated. Any warp threads which break must of course be rethreaded through the eye l6 of the above heddle wire. This, however, happens much less frequently than the breaking of the leash threads in Jacquard looms, and in addition many days, or in some cases months are required for setting up an intricate pattern on a Jacquard loom as each heddle wire must be separately connected by a leash thread to its operating mechanism. The present invention greatly simplifies the setting up of the loom and, by eliminating the need of threading between the heddles and the heddle control, makes the operation of the loom more dependable as there are no leashes to break.

The control mechanism may be positioned below the warp if desired and actuated by positive fluid pressure. The cards may take the form of a continuous web or for plain weaving a single card may be used and shifted in position after each shot to select alternate warp threads. Due to the elimination of the leashes which ordinarily establish the width of the pattern, patterns of various widths or plain cloth may be woven without rethreading the loom as it is only A warp thread, a piston in each cylinder, one of said heddle wires being connected to the bottom of each piston, a suction head above said cylinder block having a flat lower surface conforming to the upper surface of said block with a suction opening therein registering with the top of each cylinder, and a control sheet disposed between said block and said suction head to close the passages to said cylinders, and having perforations registering with selected cylinders for the control of suction thereto. 7

2. A heddle control for looms having warp threads and separate heddle wires connected to elevate each warp, said control comprising a cylinder block extending across the loom above the warp threads and having a flat upper surface and a separate vertical cylinder extending through said block from said upper surface and disposed approximately in registration with each warp thread, a piston in each cylinder, one of said heddle wires being connected to the bottom of each piston, a suction head above said cylinder block having a suction opening therein registering with the top of each cylinder, means applying suction to said suction head, means to raise and lower said head between non-operating and operating positions respectively, and timed means connected to apply suction to said head only when the head is in operating position.

3. A heddle control for looms having warp threads and separate heddle wires connected to 5 elevate each warp, said control comprising a cylinder block extending across the loom above the warp threads and having a flat upper surface and a separate vertical cylinder extending through said block from said upper surface and disposed approximately over each warp thread,

a piston in each cylinder, one of said heddle wires being connected to the bottom of each piston, a suction head above said cylinder block having a flat lower surface conforming to the upper surface of said block with suction openings therein registering with the top of each cylinder, means applying suction to' said suction head, spring means normally holding said head in elevated position to receive a control sheet between said head and said block, means including an air cylinder having a piston connected to lower said head into operative position upon said sheet, and means supplying air under pressure to said air cylinder for actuating the piston.

4. A heddle control for looms having warp threads and separate heddle wires connected to elevate each warp, said control comprising a cylinder block extending across the loom above the warp threads and having a flat upper surface and a separate vertical cylinder extending through said block from said upper surface and disposed approximately over each warp thread, a piston in each cylinder, one of said heddle wires being connected to the bottom of each piston, a suction head above said cylinder block having a flat lower surface conforming to the upper surface of said blocking with suction openings therein registering with the top of each cylinder, means applying suction to said suction head, spring means normally holding said head in elevated position to receive a control sheet between said head and said block, means including an air cylinder having a piston connected head into operative position upon said sheet, and means supplying air under pressure to said air cylinder for actuating the piston, control valves to control the supply of said air to said last cylinder and to control the suction to said head, and means to actuate said valves in timed sequence to first supply air to said last cylinder for lowering said head, then to apply suction to said head, then to out off said suction and said air supply in reverse order.

PATRICK A. WHITAKER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 184,364 Galt Nov. 14, 1876 626,149 Desmarais May 30, 1899 972,349 Drury Oct, 11, 1910 1,852,256 Nobst Apr. 5, 1932 2,377,800 Mascarenhas June 5, 1945 2,425,676 Hindle Aug. 12, 1947 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 349,711 France g, Apr. 8, 1905 to lower said 

